XP Wireless Access Point Management

An XP wireless access point is like any other access point available. The main significance is this access point is being run on a system using Microsoft Windows XP as the operating system. Each time you attempt to log into a wireless network, you will likely see a list of several networks available to you. This will include secured networks as well as unsecured networks. You will not be able to log into the secured networks unless you have the network keys for these networks. However, you are able to log into any of the unsecured networks. This article will provide XP wireless access point management tips to prevent you from making mistakes when accessing wireless networks. These tips will also help to speed up your connections.

The ability to log onto unsecured wireless networks without a network keys or passwords can create problems. Specifically, because it is so easy to access these networks you may find yourself doing this more often than not. As a result these access points will be displayed in your list of preferred networks. Once an access point begins appearing in this location it often leads to you inadvertently selecting this network more often because it is prominently displayed at the top when you attempt to access a wireless network.

Fortunately managing your preferred networks is fairly simple. Start out by navigating to your wireless network connection dialogue box. Do this by clicking on start. Then click on connect to and select wireless network connection. This will open the wireless network connection dialogue box. One the left hand panel of the dialogue box you will see an option that says, "Change the order of preferred networks." Clicking on this option opens the wireless network connections dialogue box. Click on the wireless networks tab. You will see a list of your preferred networks. You can scroll through this list to highlight your own wireless network and then select move up. Repeat this process until your home network is shown in the top position. Doing this will ensure your home network appears at the top of the list of available networks. It will also minimize the potential for clicking on and logging into the wrong network.

You can also do a few other management related tasks through the wireless network connection properties dialogue box. One of the important things you can do through this dialogue box is control whether or not your computer will automatically connect to this network when it is in range. In most cases you do not want to do this because it can put you at risk of being hacked when you do not even realize you are connected to a network. In order to disable this feature, select one of the preferred networks listed on the wireless networks tab. Once this network is highlighted, select the properties button. This will open the properties dialogue box for the selected network. Select the connection tab at the top of the dialogue box. If there is a check mark in front of, "Connect when this network is in range," remove the check mark to avoid this problem.